The present invention relates generally to techniques for detecting cancer and more particularly to a novel technique for determining whether a cell is malignant as opposed to non-malignant using extrinsic fluorescence spectroscopy.
Over the years, scientists have contributed to the many advances in our understanding of cancer. In 1775, Percivall Pott made his historic contribution to carcinogenesis when he described squamous cell carcinoma in chimney sweepers. Biopsies of cancer began to be accepted at the turn of the twentieth century. In 1895, Cullin described the frozen section technique, but it was not until the 1940's that pathological studies became accepted as a reliable way to diagnose malignancies. Cytology began in 1837 with Dunne's microscopic studies of body fluids. In 1847, Pouchet published the first study of the exfoliative cytology of the female genital tract. The first report of the usefulness of the smear technique as diagnostic aid in cancer of the cervix came with the work of George Papanicolaou (after whom the "Pap smear" test was named) in 1928. Cytological diagnoses for cancer of the stomach and respiratory tract were developed late in the 1950's and early in the 1960's.
Treatments for carcinomas of the vulva, vagina, and cervix have greatly improved in the twentieth century due to the combination of advances including wide cervical excisions, radiotherapy, both external beam and implants, and the early diagnosis of cancer using Pap smears. Typically, Pap smears are inspected visually using a microscope. Over the years, the large volume of slides being read has resulted in errors in diagnosis, the errors most frequently being attributed to human error in reading the slides or to a collection of smear deposited on the slides. Accordingly, there is a need to analyze Pap smears by other means. Presently, computer-VIDEO software programs are being investigated to compare cell patterns to recognize cancer cells from normal cells in shape and size.